Environmentalists on local councils have allowed roadsides to become conservation zones for native vegetation, raising the risk of intense bushfires on access roads and jeopardising residents’ safety. Read more here.
Opinion
Dolphin Discovery: Now Time to Reassess Conservation Effort
JUST a month ago it was considered really good news when another eight Irrawaddy dolphins were found at Chilika Lake in India bringing the total number to 146. The lake is considered a principle habitat for this rare species of freshwater dolphin with the world population estimated at just 900.
Much of the global conservation focus has been on populations of less than 50 individuals classified as ‘Critically Endangered’ by the World Conservation Union in places like the Mekong River and working with local fishing communities to reduce fishing pressure.
But now a New York-based conservation group, the Wildlife Conservation Society, has discovered a population of about 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins – that’s right six thousand – in the Sundarbans mangrove forest area of Bangladesh.
[Read more…] about Dolphin Discovery: Now Time to Reassess Conservation Effort
NYT Interviews Freeman Dyson
Freeman Dyson says he doesn’t want his legacy to be defined by climate change, but his dissension from the orthodoxy of global warming is significant because of his stature and his devotion to the integrity of science. Read more here.
The Importance of Sceptism
A society will only be able to benefit from science if it can sustain a sceptical outlook as part of its inherent cultural fabric. Janet Barlow.
A Reality Check on the Role of Water Vapour in Climate Change: A Note from Michael Hammer
ACCORDING to the international panel on climate change (IPCC) any direct temperature rise from increasing carbon dioxide levels is greatly amplified by positive feedback from water vapour. As the theory goes, rising carbon dioxide levels from human activity causes some temperature rise which causes more water to evaporate. Because water vapour is the dominant greenhouse gas, the additional water vapour absorbs even more energy, so global temperatures rise even, more causing still more water to evaporate and so on in an amplifying spiral. In this way the roughly half degree direct impact from doubling carbon dioxide is claimed to be amplified to three degrees or more.
An interesting theory, but now consider the following scenario;
We know the earth rotates about an axis tilted about 23 degrees relative to the sun. This is what causes the seasons and what sets the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Imagine a location on the Tropic of Capricorn (23 degrees south) – say Mackay in Queensland. In summer the sun is directly overhead – average solar input of around 310 watts/sq meter. In winter the sun is at maximum elevation 44 degrees – average solar input of around 220 watts/sq meter. That is a difference summer to winter of about 90 watts/sq meter which, according to Stefan’s law, without any feedbacks would give a temperature difference summer to winter of about 16 degrees. The amount of positive or amplifying feedback claimed by the IPCC would inflate that about 6 times to more than 90 degrees C, extinguishing all life in Mackay.
Clergyman Blames Climate Change
George Browning, the former Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, told more than 2,000 people gathered in London’s Westminster Abbey that human activity was causing climate change and extreme weather conditions. Read more here.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.